JCB will be one of the ‘official exhibitors’ at this week’s Reform Party conference, where it will showcase a pothole machine in the latest sign of tightening ties between the poll-topping party and blue-chip UK firms.
The yellow-liveried manufacturer, which is owned by longstanding Tory donor Lord Bamford, will be one of the most prominent businesses at the conference, City AM can reveal, and plans to showcase its ‘Pothole Pro’ repair machine to the insurgent party’s ranks of new councillors.
The deal means the firm will join the likes of Heathrow Airport and Tiktok as one of the largest corporate spenders at the much-anticipated political jamboree, the party’s first since it started consistently topping the polls.
Heathrow has signed up to be the title sponsor of the event’s lounge, which promises to provide platinum ticketholders with extended access to leading party figures, according to a report in the Times, which also said TikTok would attend the Farage-led party conference for the first time.
Reform UK did not confirm whether Nigel Farage will drive the JCB Pothole Pro at events in Birmingham (image courtesy of JCB)
A spokesman for JCB said Reform’s recent success at May’s local elections, where it won an unprecedented 677 seats and took control of 10 councils, was behind the group’s decision to become an exhibitor.
“The party has put highway maintenance and repair high on its agenda and JCB is taking the opportunity to showcase… its innovative pothole repair machine, to Reform councillors attending this week’s National Conference at the NEC in Birmingham,” he added.
JCB’s presence will be seen as a major coup for the party, which has been engaged in a protracted campaign to burnish its business-friendly credentials to prominent UK bosses.
Nigel Farage has promised to install several ‘business leaders’ into the cabinet, should Reform win the next general election, in an attempt to ensure there were “many high-quality people” in the cabinet as possible, the party said.
Meanwhile, Richard Tice recently took part in a series of business breakfasts that were dubbed the ‘bacon and eggs offensive’ – a play on New Labour’s famous ‘smoked salmon offensive’ – where the deputy leader set out the party’s low-tax, low-regulation pitch to bosses.
Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment.